He recounted feeling unsure of his career path while enrolled at university, considering following his interests in both architecture and creating computer graphics.

[15] He later stated that he was overjoyed when the manga was adapted into an anime, and, until then, hadn't fully grasped the extent to which the series was popular.

[5][6][7] It has been described by Sorachi as “Gently painting the life of a loser, a really likeable kind of humanity and reality”, stating that the appeal of the manga's characters are due to their relatable, flawed nature.

[9] Smith has described the series as an “Edo-era comedy decked out in science fiction trappings and alternative historical versions of famous characters”.

Smith has considered Gintama’s balance of comedic elements and drama as representing Sorachi’s unique style and approach to characters.

[5][6][7] Sorachi stated that reading Wanpakku Comics had the greatest influence on his work as a manga artist, though was also inspired by popular series such as Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitarou.

Sorachi has stated that the midnight radio program Attack Young, by Akashi Eiichirou, inspired his satirical humour.

However, he felt that his creativity would be limited by the genre of historical fiction and thus decided to incorporate the shinsengumi as side characters in a science-fiction and comedy manga.

[5][7] The first year of the release of Gintama coincided with the airing of Shinsengumi!, during which the manga consisted mostly of shorter stories to establish the characters and the world they were situated in, as Sorachi wanted to minimise the potential overlap of the two texts.

However, following the first year of serialisation, Sorachi stated that he grew more comfortable with extending the storyline of the manga to include more serious themes and dramatic moments, whilst keeping his uniquely comedic and fantastical characterisation of modern Japan.

In these appearances, a cast member will read out a letter written by Sorachi, about the stages of production or effort which went into creating the movie, frequented by sudden, comical one-liners.

[21] Several other Weekly Shōnen Jump series have been referenced or parodied in Gintama, including One Piece, Naruto, and Dragon Ball.